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Webster 1913 Edition

Grab

Grab

(grăb)
,
Noun.
[Ar. & Hind.
ghurāb
crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.]
(Naut.)
A vessel used on the Malabar coast, having two or three masts.

Grab

(grăb)
,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Grabbed
(grăbd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Grabbing
.]
[Akin to Sw.
grabba
to grasp. Cf.
Grabble
,
Grapple
,
Grasp
.]
To gripe suddenly; to seize; to snatch; to clutch.

Grab

,
Noun.
1.
A sudden grasp or seizure.
2.
An instrument for clutching objects for the purpose of raising them; – specially applied to devices for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.
Grab bag
,
at fairs, a bag or box holding small articles which are to be drawn, without being seen, on payment of a small sum.
[Colloq.]
–
Grab game
,
a theft committed by grabbing or snatching a purse or other piece of property.
[Colloq.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Grab

GRAB

,
Noun.
A vessel used on the Malabar coast,having two or three masts.

GRAB

,
Verb.
T.
To seize; to gripe suddenly. [Vulgar.]

Definition 2025

Grab

Grab

See also: grab

German

Noun

Grab n ‎(genitive Grabs or Grabes, plural Gräber)

  1. grave
  2. tomb

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

grab

grab

See also: Grab

English

Verb

grab ‎(third-person singular simple present grabs, present participle grabbing, simple past and past participle grabbed)

  1. (transitive) To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
    I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.‎
  2. (intransitive) To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).
    The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.‎
  3. To restrain someone; to arrest.
  4. To grip the attention; to enthrall.
  5. (informal) To quickly collect or retrieve.
    • 1987 James Grady Just a Shot Away, Bantam, page 117:
      "I'll just grab my jacket," said Manh-Hung.
    • 1999 Jillian Dagg, Racing Hearts, Thomas Bouregy & Co., page 105:
      Hardly believing that Rafe actually planned to relax for a while, Kate nodded. "All right. Fine. I'll just go grab my purse."
    • 2009 Mike Taylor, A Thousand Sleeps, Tate Publishing, page 216:
      He looked at Albert and Ben, and then back to Nurse Allen. "I'll just grab my gear and be right back."
  6. (informal) To consume something quickly.
    We'll just grab a sandwich and then we'll be on our way.‎
    Is there time to grab a coffee?‎
  7. To take the opportunity of.
    • 2012 May 19, Paul Fletcher, “Blackpool 1-2 West Ham”, in BBC Sport:
      Both teams wasted good opportunities to score but it was the London side who did grab what proved to be the decisive third when the unmarked Vaz Te, a January signing from Barnsley, drilled the ball into the net from 12 yards.
Translations

Noun

grab ‎(plural grabs)

  1. a sudden snatch (for something)
    • 1931 Harold M. Sherman, "The Baseball Clown," Boys' Life, volume 21, No. 4 (April 1931), Boy Scouts of America, page 47:
      The ball popped in and popped out, and when he made a grab for it on the ground he kicked it with his foot.
    • 2003 J Davey, Six Years of Darkness, Trafford Publishing, page 66:
      He made a grab for me and I swung my handbag at him as hard as I could.
  2. a mechanical device that grabs or clutches
    1. a device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven
  3. (media) a soundbite
Derived terms
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Arabic and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.

Noun

grab ‎(plural grabs)

  1. A two- or three-masted vessel used on the Malabar coast.

Anagrams

Lower Sorbian

grab

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɡrap]

Noun

grab m

  1. hornbeam (tree of genus Carpinus)

Declension

Polish

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *grab(r)ъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɡrap]

Noun

grab m inan

  1. hornbeam, any tree of genus Carpinus.

Declension

Derived terms

  • grabowy

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *grab(r)ъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-

Noun

grab m ‎(Cyrillic spelling граб)

  1. hornbeam

Declension

Etymology

From Old High German grap, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō ‎(“grave, trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- ‎(“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Related to graben ‎(“to dig”).

Compare Low German Graf, Graff, Dutch graf, English grave, Danish grav, Icelandic gröf, Serbo-Croatian grȍb and groblje ‎(“grave”), Czech and Slovak hrob ‎(“grave”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡʁaːp/ (standard)
  • IPA(key): /ɡʁap/ (variant in Low German areas; but inflected forms always with a long vowel)
  • Rhymes: -aːp, -ap

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